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Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Recipe for Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Custard Bake

This tasty Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Custard Bake will help you eat your greens.

(This ultra-delicious Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Custard Bake is today's pick for the month of Daily Phase One Recipes. I love this flavor combination, and I'd eat this for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You can see all the recipes from the month by clicking Daily Phase One Recipes. Check after the recipe for Phase One Flashbacks from this day in 2012 and 2013.)

My food preferences have changed since I've been writing this blog, and one good change is the way I've developed such an appreciation for greens. I confess that before I started growing them in my garden, I never cooked much with Red Russian Kale, dark green curly kale, or Swiss chard. Now these uber-healthful greens have turned into something I love experimenting with every year when the garden is producing them, but I've also started buying greens from the store more often. I've made a few different breakfast dishes with greens baked into the eggs, but this Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Custard Bake is a bit different, with a generous amount of goat cheese (the soft type that comes in a log) combined with milk and then mixed into just enough eggs to bind it together into a barely-firm custard. I loved the flavor combination with the Swiss chard, goat cheese, and other cheeses, and although you could certainly eat this for breakfast I've been eating it for a light dinner for the last couple of days.

This recipe was inspired by one I saw in Greene on Greens, a vegetable cookbook I bought used on Amazon.com for a few dollars after my nephew Jake recommended it. The book was first printed in 1984, and tastes have changed a bit since then. I lightened up the recipe quite a bit, switching olive oil for butter, using milk instead of heavy cream, and using lower-fat cheeses. I also left out the bread crumbs so I could eat this for phase one. Even with those changes this was creamy and delicious, something I'd eat a small slice of paired with something light on the side.

To chop the swiss chard leaves, pile up a bunch of them and slice one way.

Then turn the cutting board and slice through the leaves the other way.

If you're using chard from the garden, give then a good wash in a salad spinner after you've chopped them and spin until they're very dry.

In a large frying pan, saute the onion in some olive oil until it's just starting to brown.

Then add the chopped Swiss chard all at once and use a large turner to keep turning it until all the chard has wilted.

Cook the chard a couple of minutes, just until it's wilted down like this; it will finish cooking in the oven. Turn off heat and let the chard cool a little.

I used the bowl attachment of the immersion blender to mix the milk and goat cheese, but you could let the cheese soften on the counter and mix it by hand.

Then beat the eggs with some salt and pepper.

Then mix the goat cheese and milk mixture, mozzarella, and 2 T of Parmesan into the eggs.

Stir in the wilted Swiss chard and onions.

Pour the mixture into a round casserole dish that you've sprayed with olive oil or nonstick spray., and sprinkle the coarse ground Parmesan over the top.

Bake at 350F/180C for about an hour, or until the mixture is completely set and lightly browned on top. (I tested with a toothpick to make sure the center was done.) Serve hot for breakfast, brunch, or a light dinner.

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Remove swiss chard stems and save for another use. Pile up the swiss chard leaves in a stack and slice in 1/2 inch slices one way, then turn the cutting board and slice the other way to make chopped pieces of chard. (You will probably have to do this in a couple of batches.) If needed wash the chopped chard in a salad spinner and spin until it's very dry. Chop the onion into pieces about 1/4 inch.

Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan (big enough to hold all the Swiss chard.) Add onion and saute 4-5 minutes on medium-high heat, just until the onions are barely starting to brown. Then add Swiss chard, all at once. Use a large turner to turn the chard as it cooks until it's all wilted, about 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat and let the chard cool slightly.

Combine the milk and goat cheese. (I did this with the bowl attachment of an immersion blender, but you can let the cheese soften and stir it together by hand.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs until the yolks and whites are all combined, then season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste. Stir the milk/goat cheese mixture into the eggs and then add the mozzarella and two tablespoons of the Parmesan. Add the chard and onions and stir so it's well distributed in the egg mixture.

Spray a round casserole dish or springform pan with olive oil or nonstick spray. (Use a pan that's 8 or 9 inches in diameter.) Put the egg/chard mixture into the pan and top with the other two tablespoons of Parmesan. Bake for one hour, or until the mixture is fully set and lightly browned on top.

Serve hot for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or a light dinner. This will keep for several days in the fridge and can be reheated for a minute or two in a microwave.

With a generous amount of leafy greens and using low-fat goat cheese, milk, and mozzarella, this recipe would be a good choice for any phase of the South Beach Diet. For phase one I would limit portion size to a small slice of this with something something light on the side like Ottolenghi's Perfect Lettuce Salad, Chopped Greek Salad, or just some browned turkey breakfast sausage, depending on what time of day it was.

Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to
manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs,
points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a
recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.

Ten More Tasty Ideas with Swiss Chard:

(Recipes from other blogs may not be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)

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Posts may include links to my affiliate
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Posts may include links to my affiliate account at Amazon.com, and this blog earns a few cents on the dollar if readers purchase the items I recommend, so thanks for supporting my blog when you shop at Amazon!

Anyway...I'm on a goat cheese mission of sorts; seems I've had a season of trying all sorts of dishes using goat cheese more than anything else. And am so happy I have; it adds such a great element to dishes. This looks wonderful!

I just cut back my chard so should be getting lots of nice new growth in a week or so. Love goat cheese with anything / everything. Funny, though, our goat cheese 'in a log' is a semi-soft cheese with an edible rind - like a brie. For soft, melting cheese it comes in a carton - like your Chavrie (I think).

This looks lovely & I cannot wait to try it. I've just begun low carb eating style, (I don't call it a diet or I'll quit) to combat a 71 pound weight gain from 2 yrs of prescription steriods. Your recipes will be an enormous help & do thank you for taking the time to share.

PS.. I just purchased Greene on Greens from Amazon, at 36 cents plus shipping. Such a deal!

Our friends make the best goat cheese. We enjoyed some that they'd just made on Sunday for our group picnic. I'm passing on this recipe to them and saving it for myself for those times when they share. ;-) Kalyn, I had no idea that you were fairly new to your love of greens. That's so inspiring since you make so many wonderful dishes with them now. You're converting folks! :-)

Isn't it funny how our tastes change? They say kids' taste buds change when they're ten, but I think adults also change. I love all the summer vegetables, but I have to say I started craving the heartier greens as the weather has gotten cooler. This looks like a nice brunch!

This looks amazing! I read your blog all the time Kalyn and I think this is the first time I've commented so a big THANK YOU is due! I love your recipes and your support for a healthy lifestyle. If you ever come to Spain you have a foodie friend in me!

I am growing swiss chard in my garden for the first time this year and was looking for recipes when I came across this. It was wonderful! I hope you don't mind I reposted it on my blog. Thank you for a great recipe. I love your blog!

Do you think this would work with cream cheese instead of goat cheese? BTW, your blog is great! I've been on the South Beach Diet for a couple of months and I've lost 36 lbs. I have your delicious recipes to thank! Hopefully I can shed another 27 lbs.

I cooked this according to the directions and substituted low fat buttermilk because it seemed like a good idea (and I wasn't sure how long that bm was going to last past the expiration date). The recipe is wonderful - I added just a touch of nutmeg and cayenne (not enough to taste, but enough for added depth). One recommendation would be to cook the greens down till they are dry. I noticed that after I let it cool and cut it, it seeped moisture. Very nice recipe and will be making it again!

Thanks for joining the conversation! I love hearing from readers and even though I can't always reply to every comment, I will always answer specific questions on a recipe as soon as possible. Sometimes I'm answering by iPhone, so my replies may be short!

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